Lent is the most important and oldest of the many days of fasting. It precedes the main church holiday - the Resurrection of Christ or Easter. Internal cleansing from sins and striving to correct one's life is combined with physical fasting - abstaining from fast food.
Throughout Lent, meat, fish, dairy products, eggs and wine are excluded from the diet. The church charter distinguishes the following degrees of abstinence from food - complete abstinence from food, dry eating (eating raw vegetables and fruits, nuts and bread), "cooking without oil" (boiled or steamed vegetables without vegetable oil) "cooking with oil" (hot food, cooked with vegetable oil), permission for fish or fish roe.
The first and last weeks of fasting are the most restrictive times for abstaining from food. In the first two days of fasting, according to the monastery charter - complete abstinence from food. Dry food is allowed on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday - bread, raw or pickled vegetables and fruits, nuts. On Saturday and Sunday, hot food with vegetable oil is allowed ("boiling with oil").
On the rest of the days of Great Lent, except for the first and last week, the Church charter established the following fast: on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, dry eating is established, on Tuesday and Thursday it is allowed to eat hot food without vegetable oil ("cooking without oil"), on Saturday and Sunday - hot food with vegetable oil and a small amount of wine ("cooking with oil").
On the day of the Annunciation of the Most Holy Theotokos, which is celebrated on April 7 and can fall on any day of the week, it is allowed to eat fish, which can also be eaten on the feast of the Lord's Entry into Jerusalem or Palm Sunday. On Lazarev Saturday, which falls on the sixth week of fasting, on the eve of Palm Sunday, the Church charter gives permission for fish caviar. On Holy Week, the Church establishes a strict fast, as on the first Sunday. Dry eating is permitted on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Complete abstinence from food is prescribed on Good Friday. On Saturday on the eve of Easter - dry food.
It is difficult for an ordinary layman to fast completely according to the charter; he must calculate his strength. Orthodox people have a tradition to take a blessing for a post from a priest, who should be aware of your health problems, or hard work that requires a huge expenditure of physical strength. Elderly people, children, as well as pregnant and lactating women who may not fast at all or, for example, abstain only from meat, are also to be relaxed in fasting.
Do not forget that fasting is not only a time of abstinence and restrictions in food, but also the most important internal fast, which includes getting rid of passions, repentance, reconciliation with people, cleansing the soul and abstaining from idle time and entertainment. As the Monk John Cassian said: "One bodily fast cannot be sufficient for the perfection of the heart and purity of the body, if the fast of the soul is not combined with it."
